Saturday, July 28, 2007

If you know Brian Ulrich then you know he performs smooth jazz the way you like it. Perhaps you know about Brian's ministry that serves up the word with sweet and easy saxophone music.

Oh, wait. Did you think I was talking about Brian Ulrich, the godless photographer from Chicago who beatifies his dark photo lord with an evil ritual of BMX, anti-consumerism, and gut wrenching guitar salvos? It's an easy mistake if you are like every other person in the world and use Google as your entry point for any and all information.

I have my own Googlegangers. For many years when you searched my name there was a good chance that the first results would be for Santa Fe based artist and healer, Amy Stein. Or, maybe you would find Amy Stein, the Chairman of Manatee County Board of Commissioners. (Commissioner Amy Stein is currently embroiled in a messy landfill debate.) Still another Amy Stein, the teenage poet, could haunt your Google searches with her lovelorn prose of teenage despondency.

Luckily, my husband is a bit of a online marketing genius and he's managed to push me, the real Amy Stein, to the top of the Google search results. On occasion, I still cross online paths with my Googlegangers in RSS feeds, but my attention of late has been focused on the Internet twins of some of my fellow photographers.

So, let me reintroduce you to Shen Wei, the dancer. Or, how about Nathan Baker, Associate Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics at Washington University in St. Louis. How about the ace work of Alison Brady?

I'm curious about your Googlegangers. Have you every reached out through the tubes and introduced yourself?